They were relative unknowns before arriving at St Andrew's, but all left a mark on the club and made a name for themselves.

Bendtner has returned to Arsenal and there is no hope of signing him permanently. Blues, though, have snapped up Muamba full-time and Larsson was added to the staff in January for an initial #500,000.

"If you look, the three of them have had a huge impact on the team," said the manager. "Larsson's chipped in with nine goals, for example. Muamba, for a kid, was phenomenal after coming back into the team at Easter.

"And Bendtner...what can you say? Where do you replace him? We had done our homework, that's how we got them here in the first place.

"We haven't got the greatest of scouting resources, but we do make sure that we watch the big teams' reserves and know every player they have got.

"It was important that they wanted to come to us. They knew they would have a lot of responsibility and they knew what the pressure and expectation would be like as our aim was promotion at the first attempt.

"They responded, they were committed to the cause and enthusiastic.

"Of course, it suited Arsenal too because the players were getting valuable experience and not just playing here and there in the reserves.

"It's something we will be looking at again, but it is important that you identify the right sort of players.

"The younger ones, not those coming to the end of their careers, are a better fit in most cases."

Bruce said Blues had little choice but to consider such deals, although they were now more wary after bad experiences in the past.

Among their other loan successes have been Christophe Dugarry, Mikael Forssell, Maik Taylor, Jermaine Pennant and Mehdi Nafti.

"We'd all love to sign a 23-year-old superstar with Premier League experience," said Bruce. "But where are they and can we afford them? You're talking massive money.

"We are possibly the 20th-21st best team in the country at the moment and we took three Arsenal reserve and third-team players and they've been, arguably, our three best players.